GA Sen: Saxby Chambliss to Retire

Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss (R) will not seek another term. Instead of running again in 2014 Chambliss has decided to retire, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss will announce this morning that he’s dropping plans to run for a third term in 2014, a decision certain to set off an avalanche of Republican candidates who will seek to replace him.

Word out of Washington is that Chambliss broke the news to his senior staff this morning.

Chambliss was probably going to a face a primary challenge because he is seen as compromising too much with Senate Democrats. Polling by PPP found that Chambliss may have been vulnerable to a conservative opponent running to his right.

Chambliss had a decent job approval rating and PPP found he would have been a strong general election candidate if he survived a primary. Without him in the race, Democrats chances of picking up the seat would have improved some but it is still going to be a tough contest for Democrats to win. Mitt Romney did won 53 percent of the vote in Georgia last year.

Jon Walker

Jonathan Walker grew up in New Jersey. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 2006. He is now living in the Washington DC area. He created a politics and policy blog, The Walker Report (http://jwalkerreport.blogspot.com/).